Council Must Re-examine City Budget

Petitioners Claim Tax Rate In Current Draft Is Too High

MIDDLETOWN — Common council members decide tonight whether to draft a new 1998-99 city budget or send the $83.2 million spending package they approved last month on to a referendum vote.

The council's 7 p.m. meeting was triggered by a petition, signed by 1,285 residents, calling for the rejection of the approved budget. V. James Russo, the petition's organizer, has said the budget would raise the tax rate too high, especially since next year's revaluation is expected to sock property owners hard.

As approved by the council, the $83.2 million budget would raise the tax rate from 23.1 mills to 24.5 mills. A mill is $1 for every $1,000 of assessed property value, which means the owner of a house assessed at $100,000 stands to pay an extra $140 in taxes.

Russo thinks the city budget should raise taxes no more than 0.3 of a mill. This has triggered among Democratic Party leaders a vision of draconian cuts in city services.

Majority Leader Gerald Daley said the council would have to whack $3 million from the budget to meet Russo's limit.

``His bluster about getting to that level is really not feasible because it would devastate the city's ability to maintain adequate levels of service,'' Daley said. ``Mr. Russo wants to create chaos and crisis.''

Mayor Domenique Thornton said cutting the budget to such a degree would eliminate 41 jobs in the school system and at least 20 city employees, would erase plans to improve park and recreational facilities, forestall the purchase of new police cruisers and deflate the dream of a new bus for senior citizens.

``When you really think about what it means, when you really see it and see how devastating it would be to the service of the city,'' Thornton said, ``it is irresponsible for Mr. Russo to say we can reduce taxes that much.''

Russo said the rhetoric is an attempt to pump up the adrenaline of the citizenry, especially parents of school-aged children. A longtime critic of city spending who believes the budget is larded with fat and dripping political patronage, Russo said he's targeted about $1 million in cuts. He said he deliberately stayed away from the school budget in so doing.

Russo wouldn't divulge any details, saying he doesn't want city officials to come up with excuses for why these cuts can't take place.

``This budget should have been bare-bones based on the grand list and revaluation,'' Russo said, reiterating his belief that the city's grand list has shown only lackluster growth in recent years.

Daley said he's committed to looking at ways to reduce the city budget and lower the tax rate without harming city services.

Council members are free to alter the budget. They can cut as much or as little as they please -- they could even put money back, as they did in 1996.

But if the council agrees to leave the budget untouched, that would automatically send it to a referendum late in July. City officials say the referendum would cost thousands of dollars, not just for the day- long vote, but in having to borrow money until the budget is settled.